Mini-break

Frankly I'm getting bored of my moping and moaning, so I can only imagine how my friends are faring.

In all honesty I've barely been out over the last fortnight, preferring to hole up with a bad box set and a bottle of wine. I am attempting to tick off my list but it is ever so tempting to indulge in my melancholy and turn to my dear friend Mrs Gin (yes, that is her name) for comfort.

Tomorrow I depart for 4 days in Edinburgh to see my best friend and her new baby Elodie. She has already given me a firm talking to about my current attitude and I have no doubt she will give me another pep talk tomorrow before taking me out to paint the town red (or should that be blue considering it's currently -1 in the city).

I plan to have complete radio silence while away which means no phone, no internet and no distractions. I will be taking a lot of pictures though and listening to a lot of jazz which I have decided is to be a new hobby of mine.

Have a wonderful few days and I hope to return next week rejuvenated and on some way to returning to my old self.

Back

Easing myself slowly back into blogging in 2010.
No words for today, apologies for my silence. Having a bit of a tough time at the moment but I promise to do better, and hope you had a fantastic Christmas break.

Here are some of my snaps from Paris and Nantes, more to come of some of the best food I ate in the last decade.

French Retreat

I have just 27 more working days this year before I wave goodbye* to my colleagues, kip over at my friend Katys' flat and then arise at 4.30am to jump on the Eurostar to Paris.

I spend three days in Paris with my beloved and then catch a snazzy French train down to Nantes in Western France to spend Christmas with my family. My aunt and uncle own a rambling old chateau and I will spend a week frequenting the local market, eating the freshest green beans covered in butter and sleeping as much as possible.

I have already touched on how important this Christmas is to me. Apart from my desire for a more positive Christmas, there is the added factor of my desperate need for some solitude and time to decide on my next big step. I just cannot wait to hole up in the French countryside, walk my dog in the local forest and enjoy a few days sauntering along at a much slower pace.

I have not yet booked my accommodation in Paris so if anyone has a recommendation please do share....

* or flip them the V sign, depending on my mood. Apart from you Z - I would never cuss you.

Rimini trip

I still have so much to write about our Italian holiday and have been so slow at putting up pictures. Here are my favourite of those I haven't posted.

Brief synopsis of trip:

Destination - Rimini on the Eastern coast of Italy

Detail - 2 weeks, 3 days of grey skies and cold, 11 days 30°c +

Resided - Camera e Caffe which I can honestly say was one of the most comfortable and welcoming places I've stayed and such good value for money.

Day trips - Bologna, Ravenna and Cattolica

Books read - Ghostwritten by David Mitchell (not that one) and The Book of Dave by Will Self (the first one is incredible, the second also good but a little indulgent)

Rimini is utterly lovely. A bit like Center Parcs on sea, which sounds horrible I am sure but in practice means it is completely family friendly, totally relaxing, constantly busy after about 9pm (although you may be surprised by the quiet before then and the sporadic opening hours in the town centre) and full of interesting characters..

There is 15K of beach, and our glorious B&B was just a 1 minute walk from the shore. The historic centre of the town is lively, has several fantastic restaurants and there are some great shops dotted around the town.

The Tiberius bridge was most exciting to me more for the glorious restaurants that surrounded it than for the history it is steeped in. But it is oddly thrilling to run your hand against something that was built in 14 A.D

We did have the most incredible dining experience of our life which I owe a whole post to. It was a meal I will never forget as much for the kindness of our hosts as for the food which still now, as I sit at home on a Sunday evening weeks later, makes my mouth water.

Wallowing

As one of the most appalling weeks of my working life draws to a close I lie swaddled in blankets having been hit by a very aggressive cold.

It is so tempting to say flu, isn't it, a cold just sounds so measly and pathetic yet I won't give in to my tendencies for hypochondria simply as I don't want my beloved friends staying away from me for fear of contracting swine flu.

I thought I'd put the holiday snaps up here in an attempt to remind myself that every week won't be this way.

Regular posting will resume shortly.

No stabilisers here

Rimini is like Center Parcs-on-sea in that every where you look there are bikes with babies and toddlers riding alongside their parents. Bikes certainly rule the roads, and it is so wonderful to be in a city where new borns whizz past you as you enjoy a drink on the square.

In the air

I don't like it up there at all, and our trip home was horribly turbulent, but I do love to take pictures in the sky.

Home

I am back from my 2 long and most glorious weeks in Rimini. Lots to talk about including the most delicious meal I have eaten in my life, a few holiday rules I have decided on and a review of the wonderful place we stayed.

For now I am glad to be home and looking forward to enjoying the weekend, and my extra Friday off.

Summer

Summer has arrived in London today, which of course means that tomorrow it will pour down with rain. But for now the sun is bright, the sky is blue and the weekend is just hours away.

As ever, Toast have delivered to my inbox a little slice of joy. This picture makes me long for my holiday (in T-6 weeks I shall be sunning myself in Rimini, Italy). It also takes me back to last year's jaunt to Sardinia where the water was cystal clear and the sand on the beach was a yellowy pink I had never seen before.

I sit now in a silent office with air conditioning, white walls, cheap faux wooden desks and strip lighting. On a day like today, I long to be anywhere but here. On a boat in the Mediterranean with my toe dipped in the sea seems as good an option as any.

Must do better

We ate amazing food throughout our stay in Devon over the May bank holiday weekend. From the bowl of freshly made baba ghanoush that greeted us on our arrival to the rich fried tomatoes that we squashed onto buttered toast at breakfast to the breadcrumbed pork we ate with piles of creamed sweet potatoes in front of Britain's Got Talent - every bit of it was divine.

My beloved mother, as fantastic as she is in most ways, has always been very territorial (to say the least) when it comes to her kitchen. So it is from the sidelines that I have tried to absorb her culinary skills, to replicate at a later date in a kitchen of my own. 

I don't know why but I have always been one of those irritating tricky eaters...and before you shut down this page in horror please read on.

A few teenage years as a vegetarian (how original) and a lack of experience actually handling raw meat has made me a little uneasy about being adventurous with the old dead animals! It is not handling meat that's the challenge, just that I've got into the habit of cooking without meat and as such stick to one type when I am feeling carnivorous.

I stick to my old friend Mrs chicken most of the time, needing simply to dice or slice and chuck in the pan or baking dish. And even typing these words I feel the vegetarian in me stomping her feet. See, in all things I am indecisive. At least I can rely on that,

The point is that I am going to start pushing myself to be more adventurous. I live in a beautiful flat with a wonderful large and well stocked kitchen. And I am resolving to use it more, and in new ways. As easy as it is to come home to my stable dinner of bulgur wheat salad with roast tomatoes and (surprise, surprise) chicken, I am going to book in some dinner parties and try a few new dishes. 

Of course I will keep you updated on my successes and failures...and for now here are my mother's glorious creations.

Radio Silence

The silence of the last few weeks has been due to holidays in Scotland, South Devon, Suffolk, a few very lazy weekends and the small matter of my 25th birthday in amongst all that.

More pictures to be loaded tonight..and lots and lots of words to come. 

Shots of: St. John's Pet Shop (the pet's wanted in), fresh asparagus from White Cross St. market covered in butter and sea salt, birthday cake devoured in Devon by the pond, sunset over Dartmoor from my garden, Edinburgh (featuring my mum and dad walking arm in arm)